Tyler Reks
| birth_place = San Francisco, California | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Tampa, Florida | billed = Parts Unknown | trainer = Tom Pritchard Steve Keirn | debut = February 2007 | retired = August 2012 }} Gabriel Allan Tuft (November 1, 1978) is a retired American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with WWE under the ring name Tyler Reks He also competed in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, where he held the Florida Tag Team Championship once with Johnny Curtis and held the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship once. World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2007–2012) Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-2009) After making his professional debut in February 2007 for WWE, Tuft was signed to a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in February 2009 and was assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) territory as Tyler Reks. On December 11, 2008, Tuft and Johnny Curtis defeated The New Hart Foundation (DH Smith and TJ Wilson) to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship in Tampa, Florida. On June 11, 2009, he captured the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship by defeating Drew McIntyre. After the match, Joe Hennig congratulated him. He lost the championship to Heath Slater at the FCW television tapings on August 13. ECW (2009-2010) He made his main roster debut on ECW on Sci Fi on the June 30, 2009 episode, with a surfer in-ring persona, in a backstage promo with Zack Ryder. Reks had suffered a knee injury just prior to his debut, but was able to work through it and made his in-ring debut on the July 2, 2009 episode of WWE Superstars, losing to Ryder. On the [[July 21, 2009 ECW results|July 21 episode of ECW]], Reks gained his first win after defeating Paul Burchill, and then beat him again the following week. Reks participated in a 10-man battle royal on the [[September 15, 2009 ECW results|September 15 edition of ECW]] for an ECW Championship opportunity against Christian, but the match would go on to be won by Zack Ryder. Tuft would begin a brief hiatus from television starting in November 2009 and began mainly working dark matches. Reks was one of the participants in the 26 man pre-show battle royal at WrestleMania XXVI. SmackDown, and feud with Chris Masters (2010-2011) In late April 2010, Reks joined the SmackDown roster. After months of only working dark matches, Reks made his SmackDown television debut as a heel on the October 15 edition of the program, with an unshaved look, wild hair and chest hair and without making reference to his time on ECW, when he challenged Kaval in a match to gain a spot in the SmackDown Bragging Rights team. Reks went on to win the match. At Bragging Rights, Reks was able to eliminate Santino Marella but was himself eliminated by Sheamus. However, the Team SmackDown was successful in winning the Bragging Rights for the second consecutive time. He would become a part of Alberto Del Rio's Survivor Series team. He was eliminated by Kofi Kingston and his team would go on to lose. He then began a feud with Chris Masters, defeating him once on SmackDown and twice on WWE Superstars. He defeated JTG and Trent Barreta on Superstars as well. Reks made his first Royal Rumble appearance in the 2011 Royal Rumble as the sixteenth entrant where he was eliminated by Nexus. On the February 3, 2011 edition of WWE Superstars Reks teamed with Curt Hawkins and defeated Trent Barreta & JTG. After the match Reks attacked Hawkins with his finisher The Burning Hammer. Reks would then lose consecutive matches to Masters before attacking him after Masters' match against Hawkins. Teaming with Curt Hawkins (2011–2012) On April 26, Reks was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft. After wrestling dark matches for a few months, Reks made his Raw debut in a backstage segment with Curt Hawkins, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio On the September 8 edition of Superstars, Reks made his in-ring return as he teamed with Hawkins to defeat Titus O'Neil and Percy Watson. On the September 27 episode of WWE NXT, after the Usos beat JTG and Darren Young, Reks and Hawkins attacked them from behind. Over the next two weeks on NXT, Reks and Hawkins faced the Usos in tag team matches, with Reks and Hawkins winning the first match and the Usos winning the second match. Reks made his singles return on [[October 16]] losing to Yoshi Tatsu. Reks participated in a World Heavyweight Championship number 1 contender 41 man battle royal and the "All I Want For Christmas Battle Royal" and was eliminated in both. Hawkins and Reks would feud with the duo of Trent Barreta and Yoshi Tatsu from December 2011. Both teams would play pranks on each other, with Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks' hands being superglued onto an [Xbox controller. Hawkins and Reks would beat Barreta and Tatsu on the January 18, 2012 episode of NXT. Hawkins and Reks would then settle into the role of NXT's troublemakers, tormenting NXT host Matt Striker on his lacklustre career and how they should be main-eventing NXT, even once going to the extent of assaulting him after a match. This forced Striker to appoint William Regal as NXT's prime authority figure on the February 29 episode of NXT. Regal would employ harsh measures to keep Hawkins and Reks in line, including threatening suspensions for bad behaviour and condemning them to janitorial duty, this caused them much frustration. On the March 21 episode of NXT Redemption, Striker was knocked out with chloroform by Johnny Curtis and Maxine, and then Striker was kidnapped by unknown persons, later revealed to be Hawkins and Reks, who intended to blackmail Maxine into using her charms to get Regal to leave them alone. Unfortunately for Hawkins and Reks, Striker was rescued by Derrick Bateman and Kaitlyn. On the April 18 episode of NXT, the freed Striker confronted Hawkins and Reks about the kidnapping, and Hawkins admitted the crime. As punishment, Regal put Hawkins and Reks in a match against each other with Striker as referee and the loser of the match would be fired. Even though Reks won to supposedly save his job at the expense of Hawkins', Regal decided to fire Reks as well, sending the two troublemakers away from NXT. A few weeks later on the May 9 episode of NXT, Hawkins and Reks were appointed as security by Raw and Smackdown general manager John Laurinaitis to protect the NXT locker room after a series of attacks backstage, much to the dismay of William Regal and Matt Stiker. Since being rehired by Laurinaitis Reks and Hawkins have been great supporters of "People Power" and would continue to play the role of Laurinaitis' lackeys, confiscating anti-Laurinaitis signs at Over the Limit and attacking John Cena on the May 21 episode of Raw. On June 4, 2012 Reks and Hawkins had their first in-ring match on Raw together and were beaten by Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. On July 3, 2012 a LIVE episode of SmackDown, Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins flipped a coin to find out which one of them would face Ryback. Hawkins won and would go on to face Ryback and lose. During a backstage interview Reks explained that they were both not done with Ryback. The next week on ZackDown, Reks would face Ryback and lose after putting up a good fight. At Money in the Bank, both Hawkins and Reks would face Ryback in a handicap match, but would be unsuccessful in winning the match. On Smackdown, August 10, Hawkins and Reks would try to gain a spot on Smackdown by talking to general manager Booker T. After being told to "step it up", a week later, Hawkins and Reks would debut a whole new look, acting like male strippers. On August 20, Reks asked for his release in order to spend time with his family. He was granted his release on August 22 and officially announced his retirement. Personal life When asked on Twitter why he chose the name 'Tyler Reks', Tuft's response was: "Tyler is my wife and my first choice for the name of our first son - when we have kids. Reks is just a sick last name! And If I win a World Championship, people can chant "Reks Wrecks" ." He also has a friend called Priscilla Tuft (aka P-Reks) who gives nutritional advice on his blog. She claims the initialisms LSN/CPT, a license from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and certifications from NASN and NASM. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Big Kahuna'' (Springboard moonsault) – FCW **''Burning Hammer'' (Argentine DDT) **Springboard dropkick – 2009 *'Signature moves' **Flapjack **Jumping elbow drop **Leaping clothesline ** Running shoulder block *'Nicknames' **"The X-Factor" **"T-Reks" **"Dreadlock(ed) Demolition Man" **"The Menacing Caveman" *'Entrance themes' **"Hang Ten" by Non-Stop Music (WWE) **"One Two Three (Underscore Version)" by Holter/Weerts (WWE) ** "Tyrannosaurus" by Jim Johnston (WWE) ** "In The Middle Of It Now" by Disciple (WWE; used while teaming with Curt Hawkins) Championships and accomplishments *'Florida Championship Wrestling' **FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Johnny Curtis *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'180' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **2010 Bragging Rights Trophy - with Jack Swagger, Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Alberto Del Rio and Kofi Kingston ** Slammy Award For Most Menacing Haircut (2010) See also *Tyler Reks's event history *MidCard Mafia *Tyrannosaurus (Theme Song) External links *WWE.com profile *CAGEMATCH.net profile Category:1978 births Category:2007 debuts Category:2012 retirements Category:American wrestlers Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Ultimate Pro Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:FCW Florida Heavyweight Champions Category:FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Category:California wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers